Wednesday’s Headlines from Around our Nation

  • The world should be responding to climate change the same way we’re responding to COVID-19 — as an all-hands-on-deck problem. (Grist)
  • You can still use an app to hail a ride — just not with more than one person. Thanks to coronavirus, Uber and Lyft have both suspended their carpooling service — which matches riders with others going to the same place and offers cheaper rates — in the U.S. and Canada. Great … more solo car trips. (The Verge)
  • Ohio’s decision to cancel Tuesday’s primary shows that Americans should be able to vote by mail, because no one should have to drive to vote (Streetsblog). Meanwhile, Joe Biden swept the three other primaries, effectively putting an end to Bernie Sanders’s race.
  • In contrast to many transit agencies that are cutting back service, Houston Metro is running more buses during the coronavirus pandemic. The logic is that more buses means passengers can keep their distance. Makes sense to us (but then again, we don’t have to pay to save the Houston bus system when it goes bankrupt)! (Chronicle)
  • Here’s which transit services are running and which are not as San Francisco shelters in place. (NBC Bay Area)
  • Burlington is suspending some transit services during the pandemic, but the ones that are still running will be free! (VTDigger)

And now a few non-coronavirus stories we overlooked in the past week:

  • The number of vehicles per person in the U.S. is up over the past 10 years, but still below its peak in 2006. (Green Car Congress)
  • Tunneling underground to build subways has a huge carbon impact. Surface rail is better for the environment. (Treehugger)
  • Hurricane Harvey was a wake-up call for Houston. The city government now gets almost all of its power from renewable resources and is building 1,800 miles of bike lanes in an effort to become carbon neutral by 2050. (Bloomberg)
  • A bill to stop Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan from widening two highways outside Washington, D.C. passed out of committee and are headed for a full House of Delegates vote. (Maryland Matters)
  • Ridership on Madison’s BCycle doubled in 2019 after e-bikes were added to the fleet. The bike-share reopened Sunday for the 2020 season. (Madison.com)
  • The Dutch city of Utrecht is building a car-free residential district that will house more than 12,000 people — and 20,000 bikes. (The Guardian)
  • Volunteers pitched in to spruce up the first protected bike lane in downtown Dallas. (Observer)